Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Greater New Orleans

Change Region

comments

Jane Fonda to those upset over her role as Nancy Reagan in the NOLA-shot 'The Butler': 'Get a life'

0330 jane fonda in monster-in-law.JPG

Jane Fonda stars in the 2005 comedy 'Monster-In-Law.' The famously liberal activist has a simple message for those upset over her being cast as Nancy Reagan in 'The Butler': 'Get a life!'
(TP | Nola.com archive)

"Get a life," the actress tells
The Hollywood Reporter in a story for the industry publication's April 26
edition. "If (it) creates hoopla, it will cause more people to see the
movie."

The movie -- which is based on the real-life
story of Eugene Allen, a White House butler who served eight presidents -- was filmed in town last year with a number of left-leaning celebrities making cameos as
former presidents and their wives. Among them: John Cusack as Richard Nixon,
Robin Williams as Dwight Eisenhower and Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan.

It was the casting of Fonda, however --
a poster child for Hollywood-based liberal activism -- that got the most
attention. Larry Reyes, a Navy veteran who
started the "Boycott
Hanoi Jane Playing Nancy Reagan" page on Facebook, who described Fonda's
casting as "the middle finger" to conservatives.

Fonda said she was well aware there
would be opposition to her casting -- and that she even requested a change to a scene because she thought it made Reagan look mean as originally written. "I might not have always agreed
with Nancy Reagan, but I admire her, and I'd never try to insert my views when
playing her," Fonda told THR. "I tried to be who she was: a forceful, loyal,
powerful first lady."